Schedule Spotlight Series

I've decided to link up with Castles and Crayons for her Schedule Spotlight Series.

This week is all about Calendar. I'll be honest. I have a love/hate relationship with Calendar. I LOVE it at the beginning of the year but by March, I am O.VER it. I just get so tired of the same thing everyday. :( We use Math in Focus for our math series, therefore we use Everyday Counts for our Calendar Program. Our school purchased the online version which is very nice since everything we are required to do is embedded and interactive (like an actual flipping coin for coin toss). I do incorporate a few other things. For Days of the Week we use YouTube songs. This is my favorite (and theirs)!

 

We also use this if we are short on time:

 

                        

For months of the year we sing one of these:

We do calendar everyday and it lasts about 20-30 minutes. I also have a pocket chart with the days we have been to school where they get a hands on approach to bundling tens. I got it from Really Good Stuff.

 You would think they get calendar frontwards and backwards, but nope. As soon as we get to the Calendar section in Math in Focus OR on MAP testing, they bomb it. I'm like WHAT?????? How on earth???
This year we are doing math stations. I am thinking of incorporating a math station that involves them filling out a calendar journal of some sort. This would occur after we have done calendar whole group so it would be more of a review.
I'm anxious to hear what you do for calendar. Be sure and link up and let us know!

2 comments Tags: linky party, schedule

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What's your schedule?

I'm asking for some help here! I am planning to completely redo my schedule and the way my classroom runs. GASP! I know. Just when I posted about needing to relax.
When I first began blogging, I posted about my classroom schedule here. I picked this schedule up (10 years ago) from my mentor K teacher who had been there for 25 years at the time. She was a FABULOUS teacher who had just as much enthusiasm the day she began as the day she retired. Seriously. Awesome.
After blogging, I decided my schedule was much different than most. I began creating fun units to place in my TPT store (which I had NEVER heard of until I began blogging last June). I know. I am a nerd. I started seeing that maybe I wanted to do my schedule a little differently.
We have a new principal this year. Your thinking I thought I read last year (here) that you got a new principal. Yep. We did.  We have another new principal. Don't ask. We also have a new schedule which I LOVE. It allows for a mandatory reading block in the morning and a mandatory math block in the afternoon....hence the change in schedule.
Here is where I need your help K teachers!!!! I would LOVE to see your schedule. How do you run your classroom? How do you organize centers? What does a typical day look like? I am really stressing about organizing and rotating groups so that everyone completes each center during the week. Am I making sense? PLEASE if you could either comment with links to where you can described this in a post or maybe email me at kykindergartenkorner@hotmail.com a sample of your lesson plans/schedule I would be FOREVER grateful!

I just need to make sure I have time to do this:

 and still stick to my schedule!

6 comments Tags: classroom management, schedule

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Change

I don't like change. Never have and probably never will. I'm a Type A personality and am usually fine with things just as they are. The first big change (and probably the biggest) is that we have a new principal at our school. I have had the same boss for 9 years so this is big. I really loved her and she was like a mother to me. Our new principal is a man - yep...another change. I am going into it with an open mind and looking at it as a fresh start - this is big for me!
The other change is that for the first time we will do home visits instead of having Parent/Teacher Conversations. In the past, we had one day where parents could drop by for a 10-15 minute conference. This year, district wide - we are doing home visits. I have no idea how we will do this or what we are to do. I am hoping to hear more on that soon. Do any of you do home visits? I would love to know more about them!
I am in countdown mode. Our school district goes "Year Round". That means that we get out the middle of May and start back the 1st week of August. We also have a week off in October, April, and then 1 1/2 weeks off at Christmas. I have to say I don't really hate this schedule. I love it in May when we get out and then I start dreading it at the end of July when I am preparing to go back. I have 2 weeks after this week off before I really begin. I am trying to do a lot at home as my room is being painted this summer and won't be done until at least the end of next week. This gives me 1 week to get my room together. I will definitely have pictures to post after it is complete. I am so excited that they are putting magnetic paint on some of my walls. Have ya'll tried that yet? I hope it makes my word wall easier to use!!!

1 comment Tags: schedule

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My Classroom Schedule

I really don't know where to start with this blog, so I thought I would begin by giving you an overview of how my class is ran. This will be my 10th year of teaching and I have tried different schedules but this is what works for me. I usually have anywhere from 20-25 students in my classroom (this year I only have 17...Woo Woo) and I have a full-time assistant. I have to say I could not do it without her. This is an overview of an average day:

7:30- Pick up students from gym and bring to classroom. Students get all things out of their backpack and begin morning work/daily journal. During this time, I (and my assistant) call students up to get folders, hang up backpacks, take attendance/lunch count.
7:50 - Monitor students in morning work/daily journal.
8:00 - Students come to carpet for whole group reading/writing. (I will explain my reading program in a later post).
8:40 - Small reading group time. At this time we divide students up among the 3 K classroom/assistant/and a few extra assistants we are given for our small reading group time. In all, my students are usually divided into 5 different groups ranging from low to high. If students are way above grade level - they go to 1st grade during this time. During this time, no "work" is given to students. It is all hands on, eye ball to eye ball instruction. (More later).
9:30 - Students come back for math instruction and or social studies/science. We recently began Math In Focus and this is taught during this time. If we have social studies/science (which is very rare - we REALLY focus on math, writing, and reading in K) we do it at this time too.
10:15 - Students break into 4 different groups. (This is where my schedule really differs from most). I have 4 different tables - Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow.
Red Table is my math table, Blue is Headsprout (or Social Studies/Science), Yellow is writing, and Green is Reading. The students are shown their assignment for each table. They then go to "their seat" and begin work. I am usually at the math table and my assistant is at reading or writing. The Headsprout table is independent. All students must "work" for 15 minutes. As they finish we grade their work and assist where needed. After 15 minutes of work time they get centers. Each table has an assigned center. (Red - blocks, Yellow - Home Living, Green - Listening, Blue - Headsprout). If they are finished they may play in centers for 15 minutes. This is time for my assistant and I to pull students 1-on-1 or work with those not finished. After 15 minutes students rotate to the next table. This is done throughout the rest of the day until all students have completed all tables.
11:00 - Lunch
11:30-12:10 - Specials (P.E., Library, Music, Enrichment, or Guidance)
12:10-1:30 - Complete Groups
1:30-1:45 - Recess
1:45-2:00 - Snack Time
2:00-2:30 - AR reading, Daily Review, Spelling Practice, Etc.
2:30 - Dismissal

So...are you confused? Do you have questions? It seems different than most other schedules but it works for me! I'll go more into my reading instruction, reading groups, and math instruction later!

2 comments Tags: schedule

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